Capybara member Darin Seal has released a solo record under the name Saharan Gazelle Boy and it continues my obsession with the Capybara gang. A beautiful record with more electronic leanings than Seal’s work with Capybara, Airplanes Can’t needs to be heard.
-Jonny Leather

[Y]ou should take your chance to download Saharan Gazelle Boy’s album Airplanes Can’t for just two dollars from The Record Machine…But be warned, it’s no folk what Saharan Gazelle Boy plays, it’s bedroom pop with some dream pop flavor to it…sometimes calm, sometimes the opposite. In the end a really nice album one should own.
-Common Folk Meadow

Your album is beautiful. I love this. It makes me want to make a movie about two kids that are on summer vacation on a nice island somewhere who totally have a romance and in august are pulled away because they have to go back to school in different cities.
-Mike Mohan, Writer/Director of One Too Many Mornings

Okay so!  If you want to download “Airplanes Can’t” (DID I MENTION IT IS ONLY TWO DOLLARS), then just click this here button:

And, you know, be sure to go to Saharan Gazelle Boy’s MySpace, because that is a thing that I am legally obligated to say (I have the weirdest lawyers!)

Please comment on this post and tell us what you think of “Airplanes Can’t.”  Seriously, if you like Capybara at all, you will definitely be into Saharan Gazelle Boy.  Trust us.

As I looked down at my official Sundance badge, (“Mark Harrison / Sundance 2010 / Composer / One Too Many Mornings”) I couldn’t help but smile as I scratched out my name and wrote “Capybara,” wishing that everybody in the band could have been there with me. The film finished, everybody who worked on the film walked up front for a brief Q&A, and then, the attention.

All of the awesome folks from the One Too Many Mornings crew gave so many compliments on the soundtrack — especially because it was many of THEIR first times hearing it as well. Because of their encouragement, we have decided to release the music from the soundtrack for an affordable $2, and we hope that you enjoy. (Click the button on the right to get started.)

I can’t say it enough. This whole collaboration has been such a pleasure, and I hope you all give this film a chance. Rent it on YouTube until 1/31 for $3.99, Buy it in HD for $9.99, or order a DVD and more at their official site.

Oh, and if you do buy the soundtrack, you might just get more than you bargained for.  Like, maybe an official OTMM Ringtone?

VERY FEW TIMES IN LIFE HAVE I BEEN SO WHOLEHEARTEDLY EXCITED BY THE PROMISE THAT OPPORTUNITY OFFERS ME AND MY FRIENDS. (can I please share some of this excitement with you now?)

Tonight is the WORLD PREMIERE for One Too Many Mornings, and I could not be happier. These talented folks have given so much insight into their near-flawless creative process, and I cannot wait for the public to have a chance to GIVE BACK – to show support and encouragement as we recognize their hard work and humble efforts to create something for us to enjoy.

So how do we support?

Immediately after the film premieres tonight at 6PM (MST), the film will be digitally delivered for anyone who has purchased it ($9.99), or as a package with the DVD ($19.99), (plus some other really creative, hilarious things to buy as well!). Just click on those little widgets above, or visit their website.

And for those of you who are still wondering why we have been getting so excited — well, we made the score to this movie.

We took 10 days to set up a little makeshift studio in the spare bedroom of Nathan Reusch’s (of The Record Machine) house, and we recorded and recorded. And now the movie is done, and we get to see our music alongside the picture, see how it compliments or adds or subtracts or just IS, and we are a part of the family. And we want to reach out and ask you to be a part of the family, too. This is the first music that we have made after touring Try Brother this past fall, and we would love to hear what you think about it.

Because the ways in which we access film and music and other forms of art are changing, a great deal of work has gone into preparing this film to be IMMEDIATELY available right after it premieres at Sundance, and this should speak volumes to the fact that we all want you to be a part of this family.

If we can share anything with you, we would love to do so. Please get in touch with us if you have any questions or if you would like to discuss anything further, (like how we got to be involved in a project that got invited to be a part of this famous festival?!) – I believe that there is a lot to learn from One Too Many Mornings’ approach, and we are lucky to be this close to their strategy that we can offer any insight if you have questions.

So yeah. Check it out. If you don’t gain anything from this, I’m sure we can find a way to make it up to you. Thank you so much. I hope you are staying warm, because even under the foot and a half of snow that has accumulated in the past 24 hours here in Park City, I am beaming.

For starters, since the day we returned, we have been hard-at-work throwing together a makeshift studio in the spare bedroom of Nathan’s house, laying down some new tracks for this amazing movie One Too Many Mornings. A little less than a month ago, our friends Anthony Deptula and Mike Mohan approached us, asking if we would like to compose some awesome new music for their awesome new movie, which would wrap just before the final deadline to submit the film for consideration of Sundance 2010.

Just a few days ago, Sundance posted their list of selections for the upcoming festival, and OTMM got their official invitation to The ‘Dance! After a short phone call in which I took the opportunity to ask Mike if he hadn’t hired somebody else like Yanni already to finish the score after hearing the news, we are still in disbelief that they want to use our new music to help them premiere this incredible film in front of such an excited audience in late-January of next year. We have such great friends.

Which brings me to my next point. We met the most famous-est REAL capybara ever. And we sang it a song.

I’m hyperventilating now, so I need to stop talking about all of this exciting stuff – but stay tuned, because there is plenty of news to come.  And if you live near Kansas City, come help us celebrate our first show back as apart of the Record Machine showcase this Friday night (12/11)  at the Czar Bar with some more friends. We would love to see your smiling faces. Oh, here is that video!

Click here to view the embedded video.

We are in Austin, at Epoch Coffee. I think we’ve been here for at least two hours a day for the last five days. When I last left you, Jared was back in Kansas City, but he came back a few weeks ago. Since then, we’ve had some pretty great things happen.

1. New Mexico treated us so well. We had one of our most amazing shows on tour in a little DIY venue called Heaven and Hell in Albuquerque. Imagine about sixty people jammbed into a mediumb-sized living roomb. Everyone was dancing and freaking out and loving it and we fed off of that energy because it soothes our souls and we also gain power from it, like in that movie Ravenous. For one week in college, Rennie from Range Life watched that movie about twice a day. But that’s besides the point! The point is that the Heaven and Hell show was great and we met a lot of lovely folks there. Also – we were the oldest people at that party. Seriously.

2. We went to a restaurant in Albuquerque (Frontier) where they serve Pace salsa with tortilla chips. Wow.

3. We had a show at the Equinox in Las Cruces, NM which was intimate and fun. Prior to that show, we had a great time hanging out with Ryan at KRUX college radio. We played a little acoustic set (Capybara’s first!) and then Mark made it into a lovely video, which can be found below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

4. We had two shows in one night in Santa Fe: the first was at the incredible Meow Wolf, and the second was at a house called Manhattan (I think). Meow Wolf has changed a lot since we last visited (in March). Since then they’ve built this amazing structure that “looks as though a toy box was spilled” as one of my friends put it. Bands perform INSIDE said structure, which you can see below:

That second show, by the way, was so amazingly fun. We played a hybrid acoustic/electric set that was really percussion-heavy. You couldn’t really hear any of our vocals (no mics) but that didn’t stop about twenty loyal Santa Feans from dancing like mad. I think they were all St. John’s students. Thanks, guys, we miss you already!

5. We played at the Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa Fe for two nights, and it was great. We continued to flesh out a quieter acoustic/electric set, and people seemed to dig it. Small crowds, yes, but it was lovely just to play in such an awesome space run by such incredibly passionate people.

6. And then, as quick as we came, we left New Mexico after getting one more meal at the incredible Counter Culture Cafe. What was supposed to be a fourteen-hour drive to Austin became an eighteen-hour ordeal that involved dissed mixtapes, passing dozens of dead deer on the side of the road, $8 crepes at IHOP, unsuccessfully listening to a book on tape, and sleep shirts that were so long they reached Dave’s knees.

7. But we made it! To Austin, that is! Aaaaand we couldn’t be happier. What a great town. I’ve always said, if I had millions of dollars, I’d own a summer house in Portland and a winter house in Austin (obvious joke: where would your spring house be? Williamsburg? And your fall house in Athens? Get it? HIPSTERS LIVE IN THOSE PLACES).

We had our latest-starting show ever (12:30) at a club called Momo’s on Wednesday and then drove down to Houston on Thursday for fajitas at Pappasito’s and a show at Super Happy Fun Land, which is about as amazing as DIY venues come. And there was a kitten named Tofu there! And I beat Jared (or somebody) at a game called Groove It Up (or something). Also, we realized that none of us know how to play Pick Up Sticks. Someone enlighten us in the comments, please.

8. Friday we went to the famous Stubb’s BBQ here in Austin, mostly out of nostalgia. You see, when we lived in Taos for three months (recording Try Brother), we ate basically the same food every week. Kosher hot dogs, deli sandwiches, pasta (usually on Wednesdays – Lost night!) and Stubb’s BBQ sauce. Needless to say, the restaurant didn’t disappoint. And tonight (Saturday) we are playing at The Mohawk for the ATX Converge Fest with a bunch of other sweet bands.

9. Which brings me to an important point (why am I still numbering these paragraphs)? Tonight’s show at The Mohawk is Capybara’s last pure venue show of this tour. It’s been eleven weeks, and we have one more to go. After tonight, all of our Austin shows will be at The Dobie Theater (which is a movie theater), and then we’ve got a Dallas house show and a show in Houston at a restaurant/venue. I can’t believe we’ve finally come to the end of this tour! Three months in tour-time is basically three-years in regular time.

10. It’s fitting that the most important thing we’ve done all tour is going to happen during our last week. Tomorrow. We. Are. Going. To meet. A real capybara. His name is Caplin Rous, and he is possibly the most famous capybara on all of YouTube. Here he is eating a popsicle:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Yeah. We’re going to be doing that tomorrow. It just so happens that Caplin and his owner live just outside of Austin. We are going to film the whole meeting and try to play him a song and hopefully that footage will eventually make it to your eyes.

Okay! That is basically everything I am excited about or everything I have been excited about. I hope this tides you over, internet. We miss you. No, not you, internet. We see you plenty. We miss everyone else. Especially these people:

Click here to view the embedded video.

I’m glad we’re talking again, too.

OKAY. So. Capybara has returned to glorious Taos, NM. This is where we recorded Try Brother back in January, February, and March of this year. As always, it’s gorgeous here, and for the second day in the row there’s not a cloud in the sky. We’ve been eating incredible enchiladas and feasting our eyes on those perfect gradients of southwestern sunsets. We’re staying with my lovely Mom and it’s just great. Except for the fact that Dave is really sick and we had the lamest Halloween ever. It wasn’t lame due to Taos or a lack of things to do, it was just lame because we are a lame band who would rather buy a bunch of candy and beers and watch a Thai horror film than drive to a sweet party somewhere.

We played in San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Petaluma, Los Angeles and San Diego. The San Francisco show was amazing, one of the best on tour. Santa Cruz made me angry, only because I didn’t go to college there (it should really be called UCTS – University of California: The Shire). Petaluma was great because we got to meet more of Dave’s family (uncle, aunt, cousins) and the weather was perfect. We stayed in Los Angeles for a week, setting up shop at the incredible Downtown Independent Theater (right next to The Smell) and playing sets before and after the various Range Life screenings. Oh! And a Capybara show was broken up by the cops for the first time. Naturally, it was the LAPD. We were playing on the roof of the Downtown Independent and about seven minutes into our set the cops showed up because there were some apartment buildings that were relatively close and it was 11pm. Oh well.

We moseyed down to San Diego on that Friday to play the last EVER show at a DIY venuehouse called The Habitat, then it was back up to LA to play at the Echo Curio. Then came Vegas. Short story: We didn’t do great. Gambling-wise, that is. And weather-wise. It was so windy that they shut down the pool. Seriously, Vegas?

*Marshmallows -> Marshmarlows
*Spaghetti with meat sauce -> Spagartti with mort source
*Chocolate chips -> Chorcolate chorps
*Enchiladas -> Ernchirlardars

Et cetera. This is pretty much all Dave has been talking about the last two days. Not that I’m complaining!

We played two shows in lovely Eugene, Oregon: one at Sam Bond’s Garage and the other at the Oak St. Speakeasy. Both wonderful venues with wonderful bands to play with. Also fun was trying to get a certain pointer dog named Grendel to like us. This was tough, but after a few boxes of dog treats and some playtime, she eventually warmed up.

In sadder news, our lovely tour manager Liz left to go back to NYC and attend to some things that needed attending to. We miss her dearly, and can’t thank her enough for her patience, sense of humor, hard work, resourcefulness, cheery attitude, and ability to make sure we were all doing what we were supposed to be doing when we were supposed to be doing it. I’m sure we’ll see her again reallllyyyy soon…

But! Our new tour manager Jenn has adjusted to her new role with incredible speed, and has done so all while being awesome. These two weeks while we’ve got her on board are gonna be soooooo goooooodddddd!

We are in California now, and having played two house shows in Davis we now find ourselves in Oakland. Jared and Joel are currently trying to bargain with some music stores to let us trade a few crappy old drums for a few sets of drum sets and sticks (this sounds like it would be an easy trade – but they are really crappy old drums). I’ve been having bizarre dreams. I need some new songs on my iPod – preferably ones that are good to sleep to. Please direct any of your suggestions to the comments for this post.

We are pretty much at the halfway point for this tour. So far, I’d say it’s been a resounding success. Let’s hope it stays that way. Come to Mama Buzz Cafe in Oakland tonight at 8 to make sure it does…

So. Me being really excited aside, Portland is treating us well. The first night we were here we played at a lovely venue called The Woods, which is also coincidentally Portland’s newest venue. It is, of all things, a former funeral home converted into a venue. It feels like a funeral home, too: we loaded our instruments in through the same place where they used to load in the corpses. And we stored our cases and stuff in the casket elevator. And we played on a stage where probably thousands of eulogies have been given. It was great – such a beautiful, unique experience. We can cross that one off the list (of experiences we’ve wanted to have).

We played that lovely show with new friends Paper Brain and Patterns. Not only do all of those guys pass my new test for how much I like a band (Q: “Are they excellent people?” A: “Yes.”), but their tunes are SO GOOD. I know I spent a while pointing out how dumb you are for leaving Portland already, but you’d be EVEN DUMBER if you didn’t spend part of your day checking out those two lovely bands. DO IT.

Then! Yesterday we made the journey down to Salem, Oregon, to play at The Space with Vicious Kisses, The Republic, and Crosstide. Sure, it was mostly a bands-playing-for-bands affair, but if there was one group of people I’d like to share our music with, it’s other bands. Either way, everyone had a ton of fun and I spent a little while talking with Brian from Crosstide about pedal steel guitars, about which I am now very excited. Hopefully someday I’ll get the chance to learn how to play one. They. Are. Cool.

Ahhh! Other things! Zach Galifianakis is FORTY YEARS OLD. What?!?? We saw his movie, Visioneers, in Seattle, and we absolutely loved it. If you like Brazil, you’d like Visioneers, guaranteed. What else…we are playing outside Flavour Spot in Portland tomorrow, which is a freakin’ waffle stand (from now on Capybara should only play at funeral homes and waffle stands). Then! That same night (Saturday night – Oct. 3) we are moseying down to Backspace to play with some great acts and have a wonderful time. Please, tell all your Portland friends, those who WEREN’T big dummies and DIDN’T leave Portland, to come to those shows. It’s gonna be grrrrrraaaaaannnnndddd! Almost as grand as this:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Anyway, we were heading to Fargo, North Dakota, and figured we’d give CouchSurfing a shot. We found the profile of a young lady and we asked her if she wouldn’t mind hosting a band that was going to be playing a show in Fargo (read: that’s us!).

What happened next is hard to describe, because people this nice are always hard to describe without sounding cliche. When we got into Fargo, our lovely host met us at a local noodle place and grabbed a bite to eat with us. Our show at the Red Raven was to take place in a few hours, and in the meantime we wanted to walk around town and try to get some more foot traffic into the venue to see us play.

Our host, Molly, actually came with us and handed out fliers! She couldn’t have been friendlier, more generous or more helpful. She and a friend watched our show and then invited us to go back to the apartment (where we would be sleeping). Before arriving, we stopped at a grocery store to pick up some beers and cheese. Why cheese? Because when we got back to Molly’s place she MADE US DELICIOUS GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES. How cool is that?

Then we all stayed up, drank aforementioned beers, sat around on Molly’s awesome wraparound terrace, argued about Wavves, listened to some Black Moth Super Rainbow records, and learned a thing or two about Fargo (example: winters are cold).

All in all, we had a great time, and CouchSurfing is great. There’s no way everyones experiences are as good as ours (GRILLED FREAKIN CHEESES), but we are really satisfied with how things went down. Now, having completed the 22 hour drive from Fargo to Seattle (technically Snoqualmie), we are enjoying the mountain air, the hot tub, the adorable puppy, and some seriously out-of-control bruschetta-on-cheesebread. Yikes. Life. Is. Good.

We just got word that we are playing an EMERGENCY LAST MINUTE SUPERGREAT house show in Minneapolis tonight at a little place called I.H.O.B. at 7pm. The address is 2325 Pleasant Ave (Minneapolis, MN) and make sure you ring the top buzzer when you get there! We are the only band and we will probably start very close to 7pm so DON’T BE LATE. Also it is freeeeeee!!!

Go go go go go go go go!

You’d better show up! But if you can’t, tell all your Minneapolis friends (I know you have like a hundred!) to come to our show and then they will call you tomorrow and say “hey thanks for telling me to go to that sweet Capybara show, to thank you I’m going to send you thousands and thousands of dollars in a cardboard box via UPS.” It’s a guarantee!